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Tiandi Restaurant: Pure Taste in the Heart of Beijing2009/11/13
Text by Allison Shi Once a storehouse used by the Office of the Imperial Household (Neiwufu) of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, the Tiandi Restaurant stands near the heart of Beijing. To find it, turn east from Tiananmen Square along Chang’an Jie for about 500 metres, and go north on Nanchizi Dajie. Soon, you’ll encounter a courtyard to your front with a black roof, red door, and a golden board that bears, in Chinese calligraphy, the name of this restaurant, Tiandi Yijia (天地一家：literally, heaven, earth and a family). The inscription was written by Chen Kaige, the Chinese film director of Farewell My Concubine (Bawang bieji, 1993). Chen hoped that people would enjoy cuisines of the different flavours of the world here and feel at home. As with Chen, former French President Jacques Chirac, and more than 50 attendants, dined on the second floor where the room overlooked the Imperial Library (Huang Shi Cheng) of the Ming and Qing dynasties. After the first snow of 2010 fell on Beijing, BTM tried to discover the secret of the restaurant that charmed Chirac. At the lobby, doormen wearing modified black Chinese tunics greeted us with the smile of a 007: cool, yet professional. Our first surprise came in an inner courtyard where more than 20 oil-paper umbrellas, bright red in colour, hung upside down over a dining area from a seven-metre-high glass roof, backlit by sunshine streaming through the umbrellas. “Why are those umbrellas hung up side down?” one of my companions asked. “Maybe because fairies are attracted to this place; they put up an umbrella and fall down here,” Zhang Shaogang, the head chef joked. Zhang, 40, told BTM that the space is one of his favourite places in the restaurant. A table for eight is set in the central dining area of the courtyard. At the corners of the square dining area are four stone pillars which feature the four divine animals of ancient China: the blue dragon (qinglong), white tiger (baihu), linnet (zhuque), and black tortoise (xuanwu). The square is surrounded by water, and you can hear the sound of water flowing. If you listen carefully, you can even hear the sound of red carp wagging their tails. The Spanish King Juan Carlos I once enjoyed a meal here with his wife, son and daughter-in-law. The seats featured include an antique Ming-style official hat chair (guanyi), a style, though simple, representing power and authority. Every seat stands still beside the marble and wood-surfaced table, as if they were imperial servants, waiting for distinguished guests. On the first floor, surrounding the central dining area are private rooms. One of the rooms reminded us of a room in the Forbidden City with its long table for ten in an inner sanctum, while near the entrance you can relax with family members or friends on a big chair, similar to those found in imperial bedrooms in the Forbidden City. Other than these first-floor spaces Zhang loves his kitchen the most. He has cooked Beijing cuisine and imperial cuisine for 22 years. When he brought us a plate of fried shrimp, which he has cooked for more than 18 years, the hall was filled with the luring smell of shrimp. Speaking in a strong Beijing dialect, Zhang said, “I never tire of fried shrimp. Actually, one of our customers has ordered the fried shrimp five times in a row.” From the first bite you can taste the crisp skin and then the delicate shrimp meat; then, suddenly, the shrimp slips from your tongue to the depths. Zhang talked about cooking like a chivalrous swordsman in a Chinese martial arts novel. “The best cooking unifies the cook and the dishes he cooks as one.” (Sidebar) Address: 140, Nanchizi Dajie, Dongcheng District Tel: +86 10 8511 5556, 8511 5557 Recommended Dished: Chilled goose liver with saki, fired shrimps, plum yam and Tiandi Hotpot. Reservations: Recommended for dinner Hours: 10 a.m.–10 p.m. (last order)
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京ICPè¯050057å·http://www.miibeian.gov.cn